Paul is coming to the end of his first letter to the church at Thessalonica. He has been greatly concerned for their wellbeing but had received no news until recently, when Timothy had brought him a good report of their progress and growth as believers and as a fellowship. Writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul issues a series of injunctions to them to encourage them to press on to greater growth, greater usefulness and greater holiness.
Right in the middle of this passage comes our text, where Paul commands the Thessalonians to pray without ceasing. The phrase is used not to command the impossible - a continuous stream of prayer at every moment of the day and night. Rather it commands an activity that is always recurring - an activity that does not miss any opportunity to be performed.
How many opportunities do we have to pray? The fact of the matter is that there are many, ranging from the "arrow prayer" of Nehemiah for help at the moment he is about to risk his life and intercede on behalf of Israel before the king (an informal, moment by moment communion with God), to our personal, formal prayer times, our family worship, our public worship on the Lord's Day and our gathering as a fellowship specifically for the purpose of prayer. Paul tells the Thessalonians (and therefore he tells us) to lose none of these opportunities but to pray without ceasing.
Why would Paul make such a big deal of this? Why should the believer, why should the local church, pray without ceasing? To answer this question, we encourage the reader to review the 24 reasons we have already given and the ones still to come in this series. It is difficult to overstate the importance of prayer for a Christian and for a local fellowship.
So this week, let these three words of command, "Pray without ceasing", echo in our minds and our hearts and find a willing and obedient response in our lives. Let's not lose one of the many opportunities we have for prayer this week, including the prayer meeting of our fellowship!